In relation to the Honda Hrv 5 door advert and one other car advert of your own design, what techniques do advertisers use to sell cars through the medium of display ads? Not even today, in the 21st century is it possible for a human being to casually walk down a city street and not have their eyes lured to massive advertising billboards. It’s not just there where you’re fixed to look, but also in all sorts of magazines and on the Internet.
Many display ads contain images and text to ensure they stand out and get noticed. The advertisement of cars is very different to other forms of impulse advertising because buying a new car would cost thousands of pounds whilst, for instance a chocolate bar could be purchased for around about 30 pence. Most product ads would simply have an image of the item, but cars have a slogan aswell, such as ‘ The tough, new Citroen XL’, giving the impression that the car is strong and powerful. Car advertisers aim to get across a different type of image to the reader than the norm, and attempt to make them believe that if they buy the car they’ll encounter a new lifestyle. This ad is trying to conjure up an exciting, pulse racing lifestyle, which would bring the owner a more sociable and fun day to day life.
The Honda HRV advert consists of the new car and four people going mad by jumping into the sea. The slogan ‘Five go mad in Newquay’ is stretched across the top of the advert and is in a childish type font style. The car is parked with the boot fully open and theirs an old, warn out tyre a few metres in front of the car. In the far background there is an island and dangling of the car boot are several pieces of clothing and underwear. The car itself is a dark red shade of colour, which lightens to a bright orange the further up the car you look. The only copies in the ad, other than the slogan are in the top and bottom right hand corners. In the bottom right corner it says, in upper cars, ‘THE NEW HONDA HRV 5 DOOR. SEE IT IN THE FLESH’, and in the top right it has the Honda logo with straight underneath, the word ‘Honda’. Also there are two fluffy clouds directly below the word ‘Honda’.
The Honda advertisers will have seriously thought through exactly where each image should be placed to make sure the slogans meaning could be easily worked out. If you simply glanced at the advert and read the slogan, it would give the impression that a mistake had been made in the printing of the ad, but by having the car as a very powerful red, to be noticed, the reader should realise how the car is being seen as the fifth person going mad in Newquay.
The terms we give to this are ‘Connotation & Denotation’. Besides the car, there is an island in the far distance which is aimed to make the reader believe the car would bring them a non-stressful life and get them away from usual every day problems. The camera technique is vital here because having the island as an isolated, mysterious place emphasises the fact that you’re distant from any worries or hassles you would have had before you first owned the car. As the car is parked very close to the sea, the road is wet which makes the tyres seem to have a strong grip and can handle any surface it comes across on its travels. The sky has been put as a clear blue colour with two fluffy clouds to suggest the texture inside the car is soft and comfortable. Hanging of the car boot, are pieces of underwear and clothes, which are there to emphasise the people are taking risks and being spontaneous.
The images in the advert are all important but the copy is equally needed to ensure the pictures have meanings to why their actually there. The slogan grabs the readers attention by only showing four people going mad, when it clearly says, ‘Five go mad in Newquay’. The effectiveness of this is vital, as the reader will see that the car is seen as one of the family. In the bottom right hand corner there is a copy which says, ‘THE NEW HONDA HRV 5 DOOR. SEE IT IN THE FLESH’. The effect this should have is that you’ll view the car in a way you’ve never viewed it before, in other words, ‘What you see, is what you get’. Another way which the copy catches your eyes is the use of puns. The words ‘see it’ are trying to come across as if your looking at the car in the flesh, but can also be used as ‘sea’, being what the background mainly is.
The researchers for this advert have looked deeply into where the eye first looks when it hits the page, this can be shown by the layout of the ad. The ‘dead corners’ are normally the top and bottom right hand corners, also known as ‘Terminal Optical Areas’. For this ad though the Honda logo has been put in the top right corner. The slogan has been put across the top of the page so it is the first thing looked at. Your eye always looks to the top left corner first, and as the slogan is the nearest font to it, the eye is fixed to the writing. As the eye moves along the text it comes to the end and then drops down to towards the bottom right hand corner. The car has been put just above the bottom left corner to ensure the reader looks at the car and knows what the advert is about.
The Honda HRV advert is represented as a risk taking world. This is shown by the four people jumping into the sea naked with the car being left unlocked. The clothing hanging from the car boot makes it seem like they were rushing and just left the clothes there. The slogan reminds some people of childhood when they went to Newquay and have good memories. Also the style of font used for the slogan text is as childish type lettering. This makes the writing easier to read. The advert suggests your life will be more exciting and daring when you drive the Honda HRV.
The desirable values trying to be sold to us are the car tyres having a firm grip, the rush of excitement and being far spontaneous than normal. The target audience for the Honda HRV advert is men and women in their thirties and fourties. The ad is designed for these type people because it’s a family car and spacious. The view of the car from a wide-angle lens supports this. The social group, the men and women are aimed to be are either A, B or possible C1.
